In multiprocessor computing systems, each processor is capable of managing its own network connectivity operations. In such a configuration, each physical network interface is bound only to the local communication stack in the multi-processor system. A communication stack that is not bound to a particular network interface does not have direct access to the data link layer supplied by that interface.
Thus, an application-level service may find that not all network interfaces in a multiprocessor environment are available for establishing a communication endpoint because the local network stack cannot bind to all of the interfaces in the multi-processor system. In other words, not all of the network interfaces are available to all application layer services present in a multi-processor system.
One way to address this issue is to pair application-level services with specific local network interfaces, i.e., to dedicate local network interfaces to specific applications or task. However, dedicating services only to specific local network interfaces impairs the scalability of the system. Accordingly, additional solutions are desirable.